AUSTIN, Texas — Coming nearly straight from the Oscars with a truck full of Kenergy, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt rolled into the South By Southwest Film and TV Festival to premiere “The Fall Guy,” an affectionate, action-fueled ode to stunt work and the dedicated professionals that throw their bodies into filmmaking.
“The Fall Guy,” directed by stuntman-turned-filmmaker David Leitch, was perhaps the most anticipated world premiere to hit this year’s edition of SXSW. Given that Blunt and Gosling were both coming off Sunday’s Oscars where they were each nominated — and where Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” brought the house down — the buzz was even stronger Tuesday night.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to sing. I promise,” Gosling said before the film, prompting the crowd to boo.
But that was the only sound of disappointment that emanated from the raucous Austin, Texas, audience that lapped up every minute of “The Fall Guy,” an action movie loosely based on the 1980s TV series that Universal will open in theaters May 3.
In the film, Gosling stars as Colt Seavers, stunt double for a major movie star named Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who, after a back-breaking fall, is coaxed into returning to set to work on the sci-fi directorial debut of his lost love (Blunt). “The Fall Guy” has wall-to-wall action set pieces, both staged in the movie-within-the-movie and that occur in off-set adventures.
“We really wanted to celebrate crews and the magic behind the scenes,” said Leitch, who was Brad Pitt’s stunt double, among others, before making his first feature, 2014’s “John Wick.” His last film, “Bullet Train,” also starred Pitt.
But that clever bit of casting had nothing on the playful role reversals of “The Fall Guy.” It features a megawatt A-lister playing a stuntman whose face is treated like a liability for movie, acting alongside many of the stunt workers who actually worked on “The Fall Guy.” That includes Logan…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply